Monologues for those who have ‘it’ and who don’t - FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo

You don’t have to have "it" to enjoy "it." No kidding.

By the first "it," I mean a vagina and by the second "it," I mean The Vagina Monologues which we finally caught in Hong Kong last week when we were there to cover Ricky Martin’s Livin’ La Vida Loca World Tour concert at the full-packed Hong Kong Coliseum. By "we," I mean Bulletin’s Cris Belen and Inquirer’s Ricky Gallardo.

Cris has "it" (the first one) while Ricky and I don’t, but we, along with dozens of others, both male (don’t have "it") and female (have "it"), came out of the cozy Star Alliance Theater (with a capacity of perhaps no more than 150) of the Fringe Club in Central totally enlightened about "it" (where all life is nurtured), looking at "it" with more understanding, more sympathy, more consideration and more ... compassion?

The Vagina Monologues, written by Eve Ensler three or so years ago and first staged in New York (with the likes of Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Glenn Close, Whoopie Goldberg, etc., clamoring to do the main – actually only three – characters, er, story-tellers), was mounted a few weeks ago in Manila, generating rave reviews (mostly from women, understandably). Its producer, Monique Wilson (of her own The New Voice Company) sent me, as usual when she has a project, tickets but, as usual, I wasn’t able to watch it. Deadlines, you know.

But last week, we chanced upon Monique and her mom Terry Wilson at the Hong Kong Coliseum waiting for a cab after the Ricky Martin concert and they invited us to watch the monologues the next night (Oct. 10). Of course, we couldn’t say that we couldn’t make it due to deadlines, so we went – sans regrets.

Here’s Monique on The Vagina Monologues, quoted verbatim from the program:

When I first saw the play in New York early this year, my life changed. The stories and words I heard on stage that winter evening moved me, woke me up, gave me a jolt, fired up so many emotions in me – anger, pain, joy, awe, wonder – and gave me a fresh new perspective. On ME.

ME... a person, a daughter, a lover, a sister, a friend, an activist, an artist, a woman.

And on other women.

Mothers, grandmothers, wives, rape victims, abused young girls and women from different ethnic, cultural, social and religious backgrounds.

If you asked me what scope does The Vagina Monologues encompass, you would have to give me time to catch my breath. I would say it covers women’s sexuality, their rights and choices over their bodies. I would also say it’s about relationships – with husbands, lovers, friends, mothers, fathers – and how each relationship we have with each person who enters our lives affects, so significantly, the way we look at ourselves. I would say it’s about how we are raised, this kind of "cultural and social conditioning," that gives us a life-long pattern on how we view ourselves – how we examine our own worth and how we estimate our value as people.

It’s about so many blind eyes and cold hearts we turn away from stories about how women are violated in this world. It’s about discovering ourselves, about exploring the infinite possibilities of our minds, our hearts, our imaginations and our bodies. It’s about the joy of motherhood, the wonder of childbirth, the excitement of life, love and living. It’s about celebrating women and embracing humanity. It’s about women and men. It’s about all of us.

The Vagina Monologues is a best-selling book and award-winning theatrical hit. It has broken barriers, crossed cultural, racial and religious distinctions, spoken to women and men all over the world like no other play has before. It has touched, moved, awakened and inspired people beyond their expectations. It has liberated women and men from sexual ignorance, from cultural "backwardness," from social degradation and religious oppression.

Monique herself performed in Hong Kong, together with Kate Allert and Colette Koo whose parents, according to Terry Wilson, knew that she was included in "that kind" of play only a few days earlier, with the conservative Colette Koo assuring them that the play – it’s a monologue, remember? – involves, that’s it, oral sex (meaning spoken), that’s all.

Allert, a British actress, is a graduate of the Evening Academy of Dramatic Art, Whitechapel, London. She co-founded the UK-based drama groups – Onwards and Upwards, and Day for Night – and is currently one of the director/performers of the HK Cabaret Company. Colette is a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (where Monique also trained) and has done numerous professional work in London, Malaysia and Hong Kong (where she’s from).

This Colette Koo was very good, delivering her monologues with, well, cute facial expressions (her face is highly mobile) that reminded me of a young Charito Solis, especially her eyes which disappear into slits when she’s smiling.

Monique was moving in her monologue on her (character’s) deflowering by a lesbian and on her recollection of a six-year-old girl sexually molested by an older man.

In an hour and a half, Kate, Colette and Monique held the audience (very attentive and very quiet) in trance as they "monologued" on (the running order): Hair (pubic area); if your vagina got dressed, what would it wear?; if your vagina could talk, what would it say?; the flood; the vagina workshop; vagina fact – clitoris; because he liked to look at it; vagina fact – genital mutilation; my vagina was my village; my angry vagina; the little coochi snorcher that could; what does your vagina smell like?; reclaiming cunt; I asked a six-year-old girl; the woman who loved to make vaginas happy; and I was there in the room.

If you expect to see "it" (the first "it") exposed by one or all of the three actresses onstage, you’d be disappointed. But if you watch "it" (the second "it"), with an open (read: not malicious) mind, you’d enjoy "it" and come out of the theater looking at your mother and your sister and your wife (if you have one) from a different, certainly better, point of view.

The Vagina Monologues will have repeat shows at the Music Museum (featuring the original cast composed of Tami Monsod, Dulce Aristorenas and Monique herself) tonight and on Nov. 3, and at the Republic of Malate on Oct. 21, 27 and 28 and Nov. 4. The same cast will perform in Singapore next Jan. (12 to 17) and again in Hong Kong also in Jan. (29 to Feb. 6).

Watch it. As I’ve said, you don’t have to have "it" to enjoy "it." Satisfaction guaranteed (as in sex between two people deeply in love).